The invention relates to an arrangement for the storage of goods in packages in an upright depository and consists of a large number of storage pipes (tubes). These pipes are coordinated in their inside cross sectional dimensions with the outside dimensions of the packages, and have supporting arrangements, supporting the packages, which project into the cross section of the pipes. These pipes are also suspended above the floor in the storage space vertically one beside the other in rows, and form a matrix with several rows. The pipes are positioned at a distance above the floor, which corresponds at least to the height of one package. The invention includes an unloading conveying unit which can be brought into alignment with the storage pipes, whereby the distance of the unloading, conveying unit from the lower edge of the pipes is at least equal to the height of the packages.
An arrangement of this kind, which is used mainly for the storage of bags, etc., has the disadvantage that the packages can be put into the storage pipes only from above, and taken out from below, whereby the packages will drop out at the lower end from the pipes onto a conveyer belt. This arrangement thus is not acceptable in cases where breakable goods are to be stored. Moreover, fundamentally, the space above the matrix of pipes required for putting in of the packages is needed and in addition a feed arrangement at the upper end of the pipe is required.
Therefore, the invention is based on the objective of developing a storage arrangement of the initially mentioned kind in such a way that the loading and unloading can be accomplished at the lower end, insofar as there are no special requirements, so that the matrix pipes can fill the storage space to its ceiling. Above all, however, it is to be possible also to stack heavy or breakable goods in the storage pipes and to remove it again from said pipes without endangering the goods.
The solution of this task is accomplished by the unloading conveying unit having an elevating piston for putting in and taking out a package into or from a storage pipe, which piston can be raised at least to the lower edge of said storage pipe.
Numerous modifications and advantageous further developments are possible in order to construct the arrangement with a view to the pertinent requirements of the depository concerning its special design or with a view to the goods that are to be stored or to the conditions of loading and removal. Thus, for example, the pipes can be suspended movably and thus can be movable over a fixed loading and unloading conveying unit, whereby a particular pipe is then each time disengaged from the matrix for the loading or unloading process and later is again inserted.
However, the depository with a fixed matrix and with transportation units, which are moved to a certain storage pipe fully automatically and electrically programmed, in order to put in packages or to remove them from there, also has a large range of application.
In a large number of further developments of the invention and depending on the individual situations and requirements, both the storage pipes as well as the loading and unloading conveying units can be developed specifically. Thus it is possible, for example, to develop the loading and unloading unit in such a way that they press or urge the packages upwardly from the lower end of the pipe where they are put in, to its upper end, where they are taken off again in the sense of a "first in-first out" system.
It is also possible to develop the storage pipes such that entire pallets can be put in, which then do not stand directly on one another, but wherein the individual pallets are born by carrying chains with carrying projections movable vertically on the storage pipes, whereby the carrying chains shift vertically.
Another important advantage of a special embodiment is to be seen in the fact that the storage pipes can be composed of individual angular segments, so that a certain adjustment of the inside cross section of the pipe and thus an adaptation to the pertinent size of the package is possible.
Thus, the upright depository for pipes according to the invention is very variable.